The Sun's activity goes in an 11-year cycle. During the peak of this cycle, there are usually many sunspots on the Sun and a lot of flares happen. During the valley of the cycle, there are not many sunspots or flares. Right now we are just coming out of the valley and activity is starting to climb; this is why we say that "a new cycle" has just started. Fun fact: in actuality, the Sun's cycles are 22 years long, not 11 years, because this is how long it takes for the magnetic field to change its polarity and then go all the way back to its original state. But we say that the cycle is 11 years long, because that's the period at which the activity repeats. You can read more at https://www.nasa.gov/pres...ain-what-that-means/